Car-coupling.



H. R. SWAN.

- GAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1912.

1,081,066, Patented Dec. 9,1913.

WITNESSES 5 IIVVENTOR flwm F. 5140?,

M ATTORNEYS HENRY R. SWAN, OF HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

Application filed November 6, 1912.

Specification of Letters Paton t.

atentmd Dec. 9, 191.3. Serial No. 729,771.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that .l, Hnunr R. Swan, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Huntington, in the county of Uabell and tltate of \Vest Virginia, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to car couplers, my object being to provide an arrangement and certain novel structi'lres whereby a gravity latch member may be utilized upon the tail of the knuckle and the parts moved toward and from the closed position without the de structive friction between the knuckle parts and the drawhead which is usually present in such arrangen'ients to the detriment of all the parts.

With the above in mind, my invention resides in the details of construction, arrangement and operation as will be now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a drawhead, partly broken away and in section to illustrate the knuckle and its latch member. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the parts, taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through a portion of the drawhead and taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1.. Fig. 4. is a detail perspective view of the knuckle with its latch removed.

Referring now to these figures, the drawhead A is substantially hollow in order to provide for the movement therein of the in nor portion of the knuckle 1-), the latter be ing connected to the drawhead by the usual knuckle pin C. The upper and lower walls of the drawhead A are provided with the usual central openings a-c'res )ectively,the functions of which are well known, and in accordance with my invention the lower wall of the drawhead is also provided with a substantially rectangular opening a adjacent its side wall toward which the inner or tail portion 6 of the knuckle projects in its closing movement, said opening a having beveled sides as partially indicated in Fig. 3.

The before mentioned tail portion 6 of the knuckle B is provided with a frusto-conical extension I), forming a bearii'ig for its sub st-antially transverse latch member I), the latter being held upon its said bearing by means of a cotter pin 6 The latch member 1) is provided with an angular depending hook (Z which, in the closed position of the knuckle is adapted to move by gravity within the lower side openings (,6 of the draw head. The latch member 1) is also provided with spaced apertured ears d upon its upper surface, through which is extended pin (1 forming a connection for the pull chain 1 by passing through the inner ring of the latter, the said pull chain having an outer ring 6' which constitutes its handle. This chain, as shown, is extended into the drawhead through its upper central opening a and it is therefore apparent that by an upward pull of the chain E the latch member D is rocked on its bearing to withdraw its hook cl from the drawhead opening a and in addition to this movei'nent will thereafter cause a swinging movement of the entire knuckle upon its pin C to the open position as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

It has been found in practice that a hollow drawhead of the character answering to the structure as just described, frequently lills up with dirt and cinders to such an eX- tent as to impair the operation of the parts, and it is to obviate this disadvantage that I form the latch opening a in the base or lower wall of the drawhead and I control the movement of the latch member D in such a manner as to prevent the same from being lifted beyond a point. only slightly above the plane of the surface of the lower drawhead wall or base. This I accomplish by providing the knuckle extension 7.) with a lug 71 which is adapted to lit within a curved recess (Z in the latch member, the engagement of these parts being clearly indicated in Fig. 3. Thus when the pull chain E is lifted the latch D is raised within the limits permitted. by its recess (F, the latter being so formed that the latch in its raised position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 will be free of contact with both the upper and lower drawhead walls and will thus be capable of movement with the knuckle B between such walls. A great amount of friction between the ears al and the upper drawhead wall, which would otherwise be present, thus eliminated and the latch member D at the same time is caused to move slightly above the lower drawhead wall and scrape the dirt from its path out of the drawhead, during the operating movement of the knuckle. In like manner when the knuckle is closed, the latch 01 member bears upon the lower drawhead Wall of its own Weight which is suflicient to scrape any remaining dirt into the drawhead openings (1 I claim:

The combination of a drawhead having an opening through its lower wall at one side of its center, a knuckle pivoted in the draivhead and provided with a tail extension torming a bearing, a latch member movable upon the said bearing and having :1 depending hook for engagement in the 1 l t t l drawhead opening, and also having a curved recess, a lug carried by the said tail extension and Working in the said recess to limit the movement of the latch member With respect to the said tail extension, and a pull chain having connection With the said latch member all for the purpose described.

HENRY R. SlVAN.

Witnesses E. M. IIUFFMAN, F. B. 'CURRY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained or five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

